Wood source; sumac

[Jebediah]

Pretty new to this, and struggling to find inexpensive (ideally free...) source of wood for fire. Can buck/split. Any suggestions/advice would be much-appreciated. Also--is it OK to burn sumac? Thank you!

[happy thoughts]

Any wood that is not treated or painted should be fine. Some people burn pallets which are often free. As for sumac, I'm assuming you mean staghorn sumac. That will burn but don't expect a lot of btus out of it. We used some last year in our block arch. It's pulpy and burns hot and quick. It's not hardwood but you can't beat free.

[BreezyHill]

In our area we have a sumac that some call poison sumac. I burn it to get ride of it. Pound for pound it has great btu potential if dry. What it really sucks and smells bad. Relative said don't breath the smoke...maybe that's why he is a little off. LOL
Pallets are a cheap source...check out some warehouses in your area. I know one place that pays $500/ week to get ride of them. I was taking them for free, then they paid me $50/wk. But I had a mountain of them and couldn't take any more so they had to hire another outfit. Hard to burn 100+ pallets a week in my wood furnace and the evaporator.
Good Luck!

[Super Sapper]

The reason to not inhale the smoke is because some people are sensitive to poison sumac and can react to the smoke from it.I would avoid using it in case it could cause a reaction by the smoke or ashes getting into the syrup.

[maple flats]

How many taps do you plan? You can often pick up free wood roadside as you drive around. Just split it small, wrist size is what you need for a good hot fire. When you think you have enough, keep getting more. It really sucks to run out before the season is over. Buck and split it now and stack in 2 stacks, one is pretty dry now, the second needs lots of drying. Then if your dry pile is big enough for sure, only burn that next year. If not, mix as needed. Just remember, wet wood uses lots of BTU's to dry so you will not boil as fast and will use lots more wood.

[happy thoughts]

It is easy to ID staghorn sumac vs poison sumac especially this time of year when the fruiting red staghorns should be very visible. It's likely this is the sumac you mean as poison sumac is uncommon while staghorn is abundant and almost weedy in many places. That said, in my experience many people wrongly believe staghorn sumac is a poisonous tree.

Poison sumac should not be burned for the same reason poison ivy shouldn't be burned- the irritating, rash producing oil is carried in the smoke and should not be inhaled. But you probably don't even want to touch let alone cut the would of poison sumac if you are sensitive. Staghorn sumac doesn't contain those oils and is safe to both touch and burn.

[Jebediah]

Thanks very much for ideas and info. 2012=12 taps, 2013=22 taps, 2014=72 taps planned on ~60 trees, all red. Collect into icing buckets from grocery store bakery (they give me buckets, very generous).

[sugarsand]

Happy Thoughts, the reds tops of Sumac, is that the only difference between the the two? We have a lot of Sumac in the area that has the red tops. Just wondering if we have both.

Sugarsand

[happy thoughts]

Red clusters on top are definitely staghorn. Poison sumac has berries. Leaves and stems are also very different between the two species so you really can't mistake the difference. Staghorn branches are fuzzy like velvet and its leaf edges are jagged. Poison sumac has smooth branches and leaf edges.

Here's a link with pictures for better ID

http://www.poison-sumac.org/

hope that helps :)

PS- the pithy stems of staghorn can be hollowed out and cut for use as maple taps